Matt Cowdrey

Matthew John Cowdrey (born 22 December 1988) is an Australian politician and Paralympic swimmer. He presently holds numerous world records. He has a congenital amputation of his left arm; it stops just below the elbow. Cowdrey competed at the 2004 Paralympic Games, 2006 Commonwealth Games, 2008 Paralympic Games, 2010 Commonwealth Games, and the 2012 Paralympic Games. After the 2012 London Games, he is the most successful Australian Paralympian, having won thirteen Paralympic gold medals and twenty three Paralympic medals in total. On 10 February 2015, Cowdrey announced his retirement from swimming.

Cowdrey contested and won the seat of Colton at the 2018 state election in South Australia for the Liberal Party. In June 2025, Cowdrey announced that he would not recontest Colton at the 2026 state election.

Personal Cowdrey was born on 22 December 1988 with part of his arm missing due to a congenital amputation. and played basketball when he was younger. He moved to Canberra and started swimming for the Australian Institute of Sport, while continuing to represent the Norwood Swimming Club of Adelaide on the club level. He finished his career swimming for the Marion Swimming Club. In 2013, he undertook a three-month internship with U.S. Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen. In 2015, at the time of his retirement from swimming, he was working as a management consultant for KPMG in Adelaide. which comprise swimmers with a severe leg weakness, swimmers with slight coordination problems and swimmers with one limb loss. Cowdrey started swimming when he was five years old, and doing so competitively soon after in 1994. Cowdrew also won silver medals in the 100-metre butterfly S9 and the 4×100-metre freestyle relay, and bronze medals in the 50-metre freestyle S9 and the 400-metre freestyle S9.

2006 At the 2006 Melbourne Commonwealth Games Trials, Cowdrey set world records and won gold medals in four events: the 200-metre individual medley mixed disability classification, the 100-metre backstroke mixed disability classification, the 50-metre backstroke mixed disability classification, and the 50-metre butterfly mixed disability classification. Additionally, he won gold medals in two other events: the 100-metre freestyle mixed disability classification and the 50-metre freestyle mixed disability classification.

At the 2006 IPC Swimming World Championships, in Durban, South Africa, Cowdrey won gold medals in five events: the 50-metre freestyle S9, the 100-metre freestyle S9, the 100-metre butterfly S9, the 200-metre individual medley SM9, and the 4×100-metre medley relay (34 points). He also won silver medals in the 100-metre backstroke S9 and the 4×100-metre freestyle relay (34 points), and a bronze medal in the 400-metre freestyle S9.

2008

At the 2008 Summer Paralympics, Cowdrey picked up five gold medals, winning the 50-metre freestyle S9, 100-metre freestyle S9, 100-metre backstroke S9, 200-metre individual medley-SM9, and 4×100-metre medley relay events, all in world-record time.

2009 At the 2009 IPC Short Course World Championships in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Cowdrey won seven gold medals and two silver medals.

2010 At the 2010 IPC Swimming World Championships, Cowdrey, who was classified as an S9 swimmer, won six gold medals and one silver medal. One of the medals was in the men's 4×100-metre relay race. At the 2010 Delhi Commonwealth Games, he won a gold medal in the 50-metre freestyle S9 event in a world record time of 25.33 seconds, which is still standing as of February 2012.

2011 In April 2011, he participated in the Telstra Australian Swimming Championships. In July 2011, he participated at the Australian Short Course Championships. He won a gold medal in the SB8 100-metre breaststroke, with the fourth fastest time posted for the event during 2011 at 1:12.85.

2013 In June 2013, Cowdrey confirmed that he would aim to compete at the 2016 Rio Games. He was back living in Glenelg and training at the South Australian Aquatic Centre. Competing at the 2013 IPC Swimming World Championships in Montreal, Cowdrey won five gold medals in the 50-metre freestyle S9, 100-metre freestyle S9, 100-metre backstroke S9, 200-metre individual medley SM9, and 4×100-metre freestyle relay (34 points), and a bronze medal in the 100-metre butterfly S9.

2014 At the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games, Cowdrey won a silver medal in the 100-metre freestyle S9.

Retirement On announcing his retirement from swimming on 10 February 2015, Cowdrey stated: "I have been fortunate to have achieved more than I could ever have dreamed of, and more than I set out to achieve, and more importantly I have enjoyed every minute of my time on the Australian swim team."

In 2017, Cowdrey was preselected to run for the Liberal Party in the Labor-held seat of Colton at the 2018 state election in South Australia. In June 2025, Cowdrey announced that he would not recontest Colton at 2026 state election.

Cowdrey was appointed Deputy Chef de Mission for the Australian Team at the 2026 Commonwealth Games.

In December 2025, Paralympics Australia announced that Cowdrey was appointed to Head of Para-sport System and Partnerships starting in March 2026.

Recognition

In 2004, at the Australian Paralympian of the Year Awards, he was named the Young Paralympian of the Year. In 2011, he was inducted into the Australian Institute of Sport's "Best of the Best". Cowdrey was a finalist for the 2012 Australian Paralympian of the Year.

In 2012, The South Australia Aquatic & Leisure Centre decided to name its main competition pool after Cowdrey. The City of Salisbury gave him the keys to the city in 2013. In October 2014, he was inducted into the Path of Champions at the Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Centre. In 2016, he was awarded Speedo Services to the Australian Swim Team at the Swimming Australia Awards. He is an inductee of the Swimming South Australia Hall of Fame. In 2019, he was inducted into Sport Australia Hall of Fame. In 2022, he was inducted into the Paralympics Australia Hall of Fame. In 2025, he was inducted into Swimming Australia Hall of Fame.